


How did this happen?

by UndeadWithoutCoffee



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-05 13:17:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18829435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndeadWithoutCoffee/pseuds/UndeadWithoutCoffee
Summary: You know the game "Black Stories", where you get a prompt or picture or scene and have to write how it came to pass?Jack is sorely overworked.





	How did this happen?

**Author's Note:**

> So I scetched this.
> 
> I'm an egyptologist (so yes King Memses Curse was kind of weird to watch for me, the internal nitpick wouldn't shut up) who specialised in archaeology. When I don't draw findings I scetch, occasionally
> 
> And since I came back to writing I decided to combine it.
> 
> Phryne's POV.
> 
> Character study mostly. Set after Joanna the Mad.

 

While Phryne did appreciate her normally so impeccable Inspector looking a little disheveled, this would not do! The poor man was running himself ragged.

She had barged into his office when he failed to show up for a night cap for almost two weeks and saw him swamped in paperwork. Besides he looked even leaner than he had after they had reconciled after their fallout due to Gertie's murder. The shadows under his eyes attested to the fact that he hadn't slept properly since some time.

 _'Not eating, not sleeping. And probably not even any feeble attempts to relax'_ , she catalogued, deciding that it was time to save Jack from himself. Before Gertie, he would have come to Wardlow at some point, mostly under the guise of discussing cases, but she knew that he disliked going to his own empty house when he was exhausted. Even though they had agreed that they could continue being partners at work and to more, though she was unsure as to what they had actually agreed, he seemed to avoid her home as a place to relax. While Phryne had thought their banter and flirting was mostly all in good fun, she had not anticipated that Jack would feel the need to protect his heart from her after Gertie's accident, maybe still thought it nessecary. From where the man had gotten the foolish notion that she would ever truely play with another person's feelings was beyond her and she had to admit that this coming from Jack hurt her more than she would have thought.

Admittedly she _did_ toe the line from time to time but she usually backed off before anyone got hurt. And Jack had played along in their banter. She had assumed he knew she cared, despite enjoying herself elsewhere since he seemed disinclined to act on the attraction that way between them. It was only after a while when she had realised that he might have interpreted her telling him that she was not willing to change who she was for him, to mean that she would not engage in something exclusively with him. When all she had tried to say was that she could not give up her independance by marrying or having children and that she would never be the sitting-back type. She couldn't sign anything that would make him more or less owner of herself and anything she had. She just couldn't, not even for him.

And now? Something had to be done! He had already agreed that they were close and yet he was sitting here, nearly keeling over with exhaustion instead of calling like he used to before.... well before. After taking a measured glance at Jack, Phryne decided that she would have to show him that she still cared, despite their falling out, and that he was always welcome at her home in whatever capacity he felt comfortable with.

"Jack, don't you think most of this will be handled much more efficiently if you are properly fed and rested?", she asked while moving into the room from her vantage point at the door.

"Miss Fisher!", he exclaimed, seemingly off his game and less observant than usually, since he looked decidedly startled. Keeping the smile off her face, she waited for him to come to the conclusion that she was not only right but also not going to leave until he was coming with her. Yes it was so easy to see the exact point when Jack recognized that it was a waste of time and energy to argue the point with her, so she waited until he joined her at the door before taking him by the elbow and leading him to the car.

Dinner was  mostly silent that evening. He was tired and Phryne did not want to push him more than she already had. Besides, she had to think how she wanted to go about this. Obvious flirting had backfired badly already. That aside there was the small matter of deciding what she was actually offering him. She cared, there was no denying it. Him avoiding her spoke loudly enough of the fact that he obviously still cared as well. The realization had come as a relief it also made her uneasy. Acting on her attraction to him without any _'honourable intentions'_ included would be cruel, now that she knew the depth of his sentiment. No Phryne Fisher toed the line but she did _not_ play with men.

Maybe she could simply try to show him she cared without any banter or flirtation. Aside of outright spelling it out to him, which she simply could not, there had to be a way to make him understand!

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow I couldn't get Phryne's head right, so she sort of misplaced it. I apologize.
> 
> Sorry. Not sorry.
> 
> Anyhow: 
> 
> Jack and Phryne agreed to work together again during the Episode of Joana the Mad and they did afterwards and everything was like how it was before and I cannot imagine that to be realistic. Jack is still in the need to protect his heart because they did not actually resolve anything in my opinion. 
> 
> And I kind of found it weird that Phryne is often pictured at playing with people. I don't think so. Well in Season 3 there are moments... But neither she nor her bedwarmers are committed to anyone as far as we know. So even bantering with Jack without any serious intentions does not seem cruel to me before Jack actually makes his own intentions known.
> 
> But please feel free to voice your opinions.


End file.
